Assisted living facility investigated

Lucretia Fernandez

Published
6:00 pm CST, Saturday, January 19, 2008

According to the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, a Strake House employee had sexual relations with a resident in November. Administrators with Strake House notified the state agency about the incident, as it is against the facility's policies, the DADS report states.

While the resident told DADS officials the act was consensual, the employee was terminated after the initial allegation was made.

"Even though the incident occurred, there was no violation cited," the DADS report states. "The employee conducted himself inappropriately; however, according to the resident, the relationship was consensual."

This is the only incident at the Strake House for which the state has issued a report, according to DADS spokeswoman Laura Albreacht. She could not comment on whether or not the state is investigating any additional complaints because, she said, it is state policy to only comment on an incident once an investigation is completed.

The DADS website reports two violation by Strake House in 2007, including the facility's lack of reporting the sexual incident to the agency. The facility received a second violation, dated Dec. 4 along with the first, for failing to conduct criminal history checks of employees and applicants.

Pam McCray, a former employee, and Patricia Frank, the daughter of a former Strake House resident, still have their own concerns which they say have gone unaddressed by management.

McCray is accusing the current director of the facility of "covering everything up." She quit her job, she said, because she did not approve of how the residents were treated at Strake House.

Frank said she felt her concerns, which she presented to administrators via e-mail, were often ignored. Those concerns included dirty laundry not being picked up promptly, her mother's emergency pull cord being placed out of her mother's reach and the bed sheets not being changed regularly.

But, Laurie Bebo, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin-based Assisted Living Concepts, which owns Strake House, said she is unaware of any "major" issues at Strake House, other than the sexual incident.

"We reported the incident to the state because it is in strict violation to our policy," Bebo said. "For the other complaints, you may always hear things from ex-employees or residents but we're very pleased with how things are conducted at Strake House."

Bebo added that when the state came to investigate the sexual incident, the investigators would have inspected the entire facility and she does not believe they found anything else to investigate.